The rules for competitive play vary throughout different leagues, although some main issues always get tackled. Those are frequently concerned with inbuilt mechanics of StarCraft that could not be changed without radically altering the gameflow. The rules for various leagues are covered below, and are expanded upon later in the article.

In Protoss vs. Terran, if the Protoss player places an Observer over a Missile Turret, and places the Observer on Hold Position, then the Missile Turret will stop firing at the Observer. If the Terran player presses the stop command on the turret, then the turret will resume firing at the observer.

In Zerg vs. Protoss, if a Plague is cast on Interceptors, they will return to the carrier because the AI will believe that they need to be healed. Since the interceptors are constantly being damaged by plague for the duration of the spell, the interceptors that have been hit by plague will not come out of the carrier until they heal, some time after the spell dissipates.

In any match up, a player can glitch a unit through minerals through various methods:

Protoss Pylon Trick - A Protoss player can glitch a probe through minerals by having a probe mine minerals, then building a pylon that will cause the probe to jump past the minerals. Then the pylon will be cancelled to save money.

Worker Trick - In any match up, a worker can be used in conjunction with any unit to push it through minerals. The unit that wants to be pressed through should move towards the minerals, and once it is in position, a worker unit should be told to mine the minerals, and once it is over the unit that wants to be pressed through, the worker should be told to stop mining. Since two units are on top of each other, the units will try to separate themselves. During this process, the player should constantly tell the units to move past the minerals.

Burrow Trick - This trick does not require a worker unit or minerals. It can only be done by Zerg. Tell two units to burrow on top of each other next to the area where they should be pressed through. Then, tell both units to unburrow at the same time, and constantly tell both units to move past the obstruction.

When facing Terran mech, the Terran player is likely going to use Vultures to place mines. If the opposing player has a unit that is capable of dropping such as a drop upgraded Overlord, a Shuttle, or a Dropship, then the player can drop units on top of the mines and before the mines explode, quickly pick up the unit again so the mines do no damage.

The flying drones and templar glitch allows drones and templar to act like air units. This essentially means that drones can take an island expansion without drop tech and templar can storm worker lines without the use of shuttles.

If Terran player allies the opponent, then any mines that he plants will not be triggered, thus deceiving the opponent to think that no mines are planted in the area. Then when the opponent moves his units into the minefield, the Terran player will un-ally the enemy player, and the mines will proceed to attack anything within their range.